Aloha Poke Co.® Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $141K – $476K
- Disclosed sales
- $324K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Under 10 loans (4)
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Aloha Poke Co. is a fast-casual franchise serving customizable Hawaiian-style poke bowls with fresh fish and toppings. Franchisees run the restaurants, managing fresh-fish prep, staffing, and counter service.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A ALOHA POKE CO.® franchise requires a total initial investment of $141K – $476K, including a $35K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $324K[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: 2025 filing · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: medium - a newer filing may exist
Evidence: strong✓ Investment (Item 7)✓ Item 19 status✓ Units and owners (Item 20)✗ SBA loan coverage✓ Litigation (Item 3)✓ Financial statements (Item 21)✓ Franchisor identityhow this is scored8 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $141K – $476K
- 10th pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $324K
- 1st pct Service Resta…
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 12th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 17
- 48th pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Quick-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Quick-Service Restaurants median · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- COSTTotal investment $141K – $476K including a $35K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $324K/year (median $302K), with an estimated 34% cash-on-cash return (based on Restaurant Profit ("EBITDA")viii $187,887 25.7%).
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 53/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +2 franchised outlets in the latest year (2 opened, 0 closed); 2 signed but not yet open (Item 20).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Aloha Poke Franchising LLC
- Parent company
- Aloha Poke Holdings LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 8 of the 2025 FDD
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- Christopher Birkinshaw
- Incorporated in
- Illinois
- HQ
- 445 W. Erie Street, Suite 200, Chicago, Illinois 60654
- Auditor
- Plante & Moran, PLLC
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $92K
- vs $80K prior year
Overview
About
- CEO
- Christopher Birkinshaw
- Headquarters
- IL
- Founded
- 2016
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 5
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 36% below the typical quick-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown15 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Feenot refundable | $30K | $35K | |
| One Month's Rentnot refundable | $2K | $7K | |
| One Month's Security Deposit | $2K | $7K | |
| Architect Feenot refundable | $500 | $15K | |
| Construction / Leasehold Improvementsnot refundable | $55K | $280K | |
| Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipmentnot refundable | $19K | $48K | |
| Signagenot refundable | $2K | $17K | |
| Opening Inventory and Suppliesnot refundable | $4K | $10K | |
| Point-of-Sale and Computer Systemsnot refundable | $2K | $2K | |
| Market Introduction Programnot refundable | $5K | $5K | |
| Training Expensesnot refundable | $5K | $10K | |
| Insurance (Annual)not refundable | $3K | $4K | |
| Professional Feesnot refundable | $2K | $5K | |
| Business Licenses and Permitsnot refundable | $1K | $7K | |
| Additional funds - 3 monthsnot refundable | $10K | $25K | |
| Total initial investment | $141K | $476K |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. Total is the sum of line-item lows / highs — actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $141K – $476K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $10K – $25K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $35K – $35K
- Middle of category vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 6.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
- Payback period
- 3.0 yrs
- From FDD / Item 19
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% |
| Technology fee | $300 |
| Transfer fee | $5K |
| Renewal fee | $5K |
| Inventory (initial) | $4K – $10K |
| Total fee load | 6.0% of rev |
A 6.0% total fee load is unusually lean. More of each revenue dollar stays with the franchisee.
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 67% below the quick-service restaurants norm.
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
Single-unit · not modelled
Returns at a glance
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit, and the operating costs that turn one into the other are in no filing. We publish no modelled return for ALOHA POKE CO.® until someone supplies them — yours, in the models below.
—
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
Total invested capital · disclosed
$326K
Item 7 initial investment plus working capital, as filed — the one figure here that needs no assumption.
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
FDD-reported earnings
The FDD reports $188K as Restaurant Profit ("EBITDA")viii $187,887 25.7%. This is a disclosed figure, not our estimate — we publish no modelled profit for ALOHA POKE CO.®.
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit, read against the 30–60% reference band · Yale SOM, Post-MBA Path Exhibit 2 (2023). Below that band a passive index fund likely outperforms; above it the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses, and it is the top line only — gross sales are not profit. No FDD discloses the operating costs that turn one into the other, so those fields start empty and nothing is modelled until you supply them from your own lease quote, labor market and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one ALOHA POKE CO.® unit return on the cash you put in?
Illustrative category typicals — not sourced to any filing, survey or sample. Replace them with figures from franchisee validation calls before you rely on the output.
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Your modelled return on total invested capital, before any debt financing.
—
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
A 25-unit return is built on a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in Model A above and this model runs on that figure, or take the whole scenario to the full ROI workbench, where the portfolio and LBO models accept your own per-unit economics directly.
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2025 FDD
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $324K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $302K
- Avg restaurant profit ("ebitda")viii $187,887 25.7%
- $188K
- Reported as Restaurant Profit ("EBITDA")viii $187,887 25.7% in FDD Item 19
- Cash-on-cash
- 33.5%
- Based on Restaurant Profit ("EBITDA")viii $187,887 25.7% / investment midpoint
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- gross sales and profit
- Sample size
- 3 outlets
- vs category median 19 · small
- Range (low → high)
- $206K→$463KCited, not corroborated — printed on page 56 of the 2025 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- Disclosed in the 2025 filing, covering 2024
- Transparency
- 9 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 781 Quick-Service Restaurants brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $324K/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 1.0x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 6.0% — below the Quick-Service Restaurants median of 7.5%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 9/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence. Sample size of 3 outlets — treat as directional only.
Operator retention
System expanding at 150.0% CAGR over 3 years across 17 units — operators are staying and new ones are joining.
Multi-unit rate
Only 9% of franchisees own multiple units. Could indicate challenging economics or a young system where operators haven't had time to expand.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Quick-Service Restaurants medians
How Aloha Poke Co.® Compares
Category median of published Quick-Service Restaurants brands that report the figure; the middle half spans the 25th to 75th percentile and n counts the brands behind it. Medians are used because a few very large systems pull an average far from the typical brand. Revenue is disclosed gross sales, not profit.
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 17
- Opened
- 2
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- N/A
- Company-owned
- 12
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 29%
- vs corporate-owned
- Multi-unit owners
- 9.1%
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +150.0%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +150.0%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 2
- 0.12 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 4
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Ceased ops
- 5.9%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 5 states reported
The Territory Map
FDD Item 12 reports the state count, but the specific list isn't in our current data. The map will appear once we re-extract from the FDD or enough franchisee contacts are available.
5
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
1 current owner across 1 state.
- MD 1
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20. Names and phone numbers are for your own due diligence and are not shown here.
Fast growth in a small system. Newer franchisors expanding quickly may not yet have the support infrastructure of larger systems.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA loan disclosures. This brand has only 4 7(a) loans on file; statistical reliability is limited below 10 loans.
- Total loans
- 4
- Loan volume
- $1.1M
- Median loan
- $275K
- average
- Charge-off rate
- Under 10 loans (4)
- Insufficient SBA coverage: 4 loans, rate hidden below 10
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- Under 10 loans (4)
- 5-yr charge-off
- Under 10 loans (4)
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 3
- Defaults
- N/A
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
What could kill this investment?
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Rapidly expanding poke bowl concept with undocumented financial claims, narrow unit base, and unclear unit-level profitability for franchisees at the higher end of investment range.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation required to be disclosed in Item 3.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Plante & Moran, PLLC
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Total net sales FY2024 $91,922 (franchise fees $13,542, marketing fund revenue $16,243, franchise royalties $51,366, other $10,771); net loss $(17,167).
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: No
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 53 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORAggressive unit growth of 66.7% YoY with only 17 total units suggests rapid expansion without proven unit stability or long-term track record
- 02MEDHigh investment range ($140,900–$475,930) relative to disclosed average net income ($187,887) yields marginal ROI and extended payback period of 3–5+ years
- 03MINOR5% royalty on gross sales plus typical overhead (rent, labor, food costs) may compress margins below stated net income averages in mature/slower units
- 04MEDLimited franchisee sample size (17 units) increases statistical volatility and reduces confidence in average performance metrics
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 6.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 2 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory population | 100,000 |
| Online sales rights | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 5 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 3 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Chicago, Illinois |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Illinois |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation required to be disclosed in Item 3.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 16 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 64 hrs
- Training location
- Chicago, IL
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 4 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- franchisee
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
1 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a ALOHA POKE CO.® franchise?
The total investment to open a ALOHA POKE CO.® franchise ranges from $141K – $476K, with an initial franchise fee of $35K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do ALOHA POKE CO.® franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the ALOHA POKE CO.® FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $324K. The median is $302K. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns ALOHA POKE CO.®?
ALOHA POKE CO.® is franchised by Aloha Poke Franchising LLC. Its parent company is Aloha Poke Holdings LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the ALOHA POKE CO.® FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the ALOHA POKE CO.® FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is ALOHA POKE CO.®'s franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for ALOHA POKE CO.® (fewer than 10 loans on file). Charge-off rates are one way to gauge franchise risk, but not all franchise loans go through the SBA program. We recommend reviewing turnover and closure data in the FDD and speaking with current franchisees.
How many ALOHA POKE CO.® franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, ALOHA POKE CO.® has 17 total units in the United States, including 5 franchised units and 12 company-owned units. 2 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is ALOHA POKE CO.® a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates ALOHA POKE CO.® as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 53 out of 100 (higher is better). The grade is a deterministic score built from six weighted dimensions — financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency — then calibrated against SBA loan charge-off rates and FDD age. Transparency is one of the six, so a filing that discloses less scores lower on that dimension than one that discloses more. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
Are you the franchisor?
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Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.